I flew to New York with it. Garbo and I lunched at the Ahernes’ brownstone in the East 50s, and I gave her the script. The next day, since I’d been given producer Ray Stark’s house seats for a matinee ofFunny Girl, starring Barbra Streisand, I invited Garbo. To my surprise, she accepted.
I hired a car, and we drove to the Winter Garden Theatre at 50th Street and Broadway. Ray Stark had alerted the manager that we were coming, so we were ushered to our seats just as the houselights dimmed. Garbo had known Fanny Brice, who was Ray Stark’s mother-in-law, and she told me she had always admired her. We both enjoyed the first act immensely, and when the curtain came down for intermission I said, “Are we going to just sit here?”
“Please, we mustn’t move,” she whispered urgently.
I had been with Garbo often, but always in the privacy of my house or at the homes of friends. At the Winter Garden, I learned what her celebrity cost her in the world outside. Just minutes into the intermission, people realized that Garbo was in their midst. An audible buzz began to surround us. People walked down the aisle and crossed through the row in front of us, staring and talking and pointing.
Trapped in a crowd soon numbering about 50, Garbo panicked. The moment the lights went down, she wanted to leave.
“We’re not leaving,” I said. “The car won’t be here and I don’t know if we can get a taxi. It’s hot outside, so we’re not about to walk. Enjoy the show, and before the curtain comes down we’ll run up the aisle and get out.”
But Garbo liked the second act more than the first, and when the curtain came down, I couldn’t get her out of her seat. She applauded and applauded, and didn’t seem to mind that the aisles were again jammed with people gawking at her.
When we got to the street, the car was waiting. I put Garbo in the backseat, behind the driver, but before I could get around to the other side a woman opened Garbo’s door and tried to climb in. I had to shove her forcefully out of the car. As we drove away, I realized I was exhausted. I’d been in public with any number of stars, including Tallulah Bankhead, Bette Davis, Rosalind Russell, and Joan Crawford, but I’d never witnessed anything approaching the frenzy we had just gone through.
嘉宝看场戏剧真是惊心动魄
